1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to surgical drainage systems and more particularly relates to an additional drainage apparatus attachable to the type of drainage apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,363,626 and 3,363,627 for draining fluid from a body cavity whereby the additional drainage apparatus can be connected to the body cavity at a second location.
2. Background Of the Invention
In the aforementioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,363,626 and 3,363,627 to Bidwell et al, both issued Jan. 16, 1968, a brief explanation of the lung structure and of the human breathing function is described. These patents further describe and claim a drainage system and apparatus and the operation thereof for draining the pleural cavity. For purposes of brevity, reference may be made to those previous patent for such basic explanations.
Numerous other devices have been developed to maintain a vacuum in and to drain the pleural and thoracic cavities. In addition, numerous improvements have been made to the devices disclosed and claimed in the aforementioned patents. These further devices and improvements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,559,647; 3,783,870; 3,847,152; 3,853,128; and 3,809,085. The devices disclosed in the aforementioned patents are generally classified as three bottle system since they provide one bottle for collecting fluids drained from the body cavity, one bottle for maintaining a water seal on the first bottle, and a third bottle connected to a vacuum pump for regulating the amount of vacuum in the first bottle.
In addition to the foregoing devices, there are also so-called four bottle systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,847,152; 3,861,390; 3,783,870; and 3,757,783. The fourth bottle of the so-called four bottle system is disclosed as being added to the three bottle system for further regulating the vacuum in the first bottle.
All of the foregoing patents disclose drainage devices having only a single collection chamber or trap chamber that is connectable to the body cavity. Quite frequently it is desirable to connect more than one thoracotomy tubes to the body cavity to be drained. The use of more than one thoracotomy tube could permit one tube to be connected to a low point in the body cavity where liquids would collect and the other tube to be connected to a high point in the cavity where gases would collect. In the past, however, it was necessary to use two entire pleural drainage devices which results in added expense, additional space required to store the extra device, an additional vacuum source or numerous "Y" connections to permit one vacuum source to be used, and possible circulating fluid flows between the two drainage devices as a result of different vacuums being maintained in each device. On the other hand, if only one drainage device were used and the high and low thoractotomy tubes were connected together through a "Y" tube connection, it would be impossible to tell the flow from each thoracotomy tube.
During normal hospital procedures, the supervising physician normally directs that a first thoracotomy tube be inserted into a low point in the cavity to be drained and the tube connected to a drainage device such as that disclosed in the aforementioned patents. The supervisoring physician frequently decides to add a second thoracotomy tube to be connected to a second point in the cavity being drained. If the supervising physician desired to know the flow from the second thoracotomy tube, he will normally direct that a completely new drainage device be set up and connected to the second thoracotomy tube. Obviously, such an operation requires a significant amount of time and frequently numerous personnel to effect the connection in a rapid manner. Thereafter, it has occasionally been decided that still further drainage points are desired from the body cavity or that a second body cavity has to be drained and the same vacuum has to be applied to both body cavities. It can easily be seen that the more thoracotomy tubes that are used, the greater the complexity in maintaining the same vacuums, in setting up and supervising each of the scattered devices, and additional times required to set up the added devices.
Thus, there is the need for an expandable drainage system that uses the same vacuum source, but yet will still provide separate collection chambers for each thoracotomy tube so that the flow through each tube can be separately observed. Finally, there is the need for expansion chambers that are rigidly attachable to the principal drainage device so that all of the collection chambers can be retained in the same location.